Is it a coincidence New Jersey keeps summoning noncitizens for jury duty?

⚠️ Around 75,000 people are excused from New Jersey jury duty each year because they aren't U.S. citizens.

➡️ Republicans say the numbers raise new questions after 6,600 noncitizens were registered to vote.

🔴 Court officials say safeguards have prevented noncitizens from serving on New Jersey juries.

Tens of thousands of noncitizens are summoned for potential jury duty in New Jersey each year, according to a published report that's gaining traction in the wake of the state's voter registration scandal.

According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, New Jersey issues more than 1 million jury summonses each year. Around 75,000 are disqualified right off the bat because they aren't U.S. citizens, the New Jersey Globe first reported.

These names, including noncitizens, are randomly selected from records provided annually by three sources: the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, Division of Elections, and Division of Taxation.

Michael M. Santiago, Getty Images

Why this matters now

In mid-July, Homeland Security claimed more than 35,000 noncitizens could be registered to vote in New Jersey. The state is currently fighting in court to prevent Homeland Security and the Department of Justice from obtaining non-public voter information.

Then there was Tuesday's stunning revelation that thousands of noncitizens were on the voter rolls, which are maintained by the state Division of Elections. According to Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a "serious software error" at the MVC allowed 6,600 individuals to register to vote between June 2023 and June 2024.

Sherrill said they had answered "No" when asked on a keypad whether they were a citizen while applying for a driver's license or identification, but were registered to vote anyway. IDEMIA, the tech vendor that supplied the software, disputed Sherrill and said the state was responsible. 

A vendor displays a touchscreen voting machine at an election technology trade show in Trenton. (File, Michael Symons/Townsquare Media NJ)

Republicans say jury summonses point to a broader records problem

This latest report about jury summonses for noncitizens means, at the least, that taxpayer dollars are being spent to send summonses to thousands of unqualified individuals due to poor communication between government databases. New Jersey Republicans say it raises further questions.

Assemblyman Greg McGuckin, R-Ocean, said the courts pulling so many noncitizens from MVC and Division of Elections records suggests the problem extends beyond a single software error.

“The administration wants New Jerseyans to believe this begins and ends with one vendor's glitch. It doesn't. The same bad records putting noncitizens on the voter rolls are putting them into jury pools. That's not one mistake. That's a systemic failure," McGuckin said.

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McGuckin and other Republicans are pushing a bill (A509) that requires the Administrative Office of the Courts and the secretary of state, which oversees the Division of Elections, to compare voter registration records with jury records.

Anyone who is excused from jury service because they are not a U.S. citizen would be removed from the voter rolls. The comparison would include all records dating back to 1994, when New Jersey first allowed residents to register to vote at the MVC.

The bill was first introduced in 2018 by Assemblyman Robert Auth, R-Bergen.

"Every year, tens of thousands of people tell the Judiciary they are not U.S. citizens. The state simply never bothered to compare that list with the voter rolls. If this had been enacted in 2018, we could have prevented years of bad registrations," Auth said.

Entrance to the NJ MVC Bakers Basin branch in Lawrence

New Jersey says safeguards keep noncitizens off juries

There's no evidence or indication that noncitizens have actually served on juries in New Jersey, according to Administrative Office of the Courts spokesperson Pete McAleer. Safeguards have been in place for more than three decades to ensure noncitizens don't decide convictions or civil trials.

Each prospective juror is asked about their citizenship and other qualifications when they complete the mandatory juror qualification questionnaire. They're reminded of the citizenship requirement during jury orientation, and then are directly questioned by a judge during jury selection.

The state relies on an honor system for noncitizens to remove themselves from the pool. Prospective jurors are not required to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, so noncitizens must self-report. Any noncitizen who lied about their citizenship status to get on a jury would risk criminal charges and deportation.

"Prospective jurors must certify that they understand that if they submit a knowingly false answer, they can be subject to punishment for contempt of court," McAleer said.

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